I think you are so right about the idea that twitter being part of a whole. It is like you say a tool in the marketing tool box.

I’ve seen a number of companies that use it solely as the “billboard” of the Internet. Trouble with that is they are missing the point. Twitter really is a great way to connect and build customer loyalty. By throwing up billboards the companies are pretty much making an eyesore on the Internet superhighway, to carry on the metaphor.

Of course on the Twitter Highway all those travelers have to do is hit the unfollow button to avoid what pretty much amounts to spam.

But there are a number of companies that get it and utilize it to connect personally with people who they view as customers or potential customers.

I think @zappos is a great example. Just do a person search with zappos and it is amazing!

Other companies and people that to a wonderful job of it are
@iRestaurant http://twitter.com/iRestaurant
@cabotcoop http://twitter.com/cabotcoop
@bluebuny http://twitter.com/bluebuny
@FitMenu http://twitter.com/FitMenu
and @JeffreySummers http://twitter.com/JeffreySummers

You can find me at
@sellmoremeals http://twitter.com/sellmoremeals

These are good tips for beginners, I specifically like the tip about retweeting your followers, because I think it can provide a better relationship as well as social interaction.

One of the things I do is complement a blog post or article on twitter including sending a reply to them, this does many things including building a relationship and showing appreciation as you mentioned above.

I’ve included 5 of my twitter tricks on my blog
If you’re interested you can check them out here http://jbode.info/5twittertricks/

Thanks for the great article I look forward to getting to know you on twitter,

J Bode

Thanks for the post, but I was hoping there might be some new data here. Even without a Twitter account for a long time, points 1 and 3 were already kind of obvious. About RT and #followfriday—these are things you pick up in just a few days once you join Twitter.

What you’ve told us is really just the reality of marketing in 2009 versus, say, 1980. Loud billboards screaming out to promote a product work far less successfully than they used to because people have far less bandwidth for that kind of thing.

So… Can you tell us what a more seasoned Twitter user might find has helped him or her? And why Twitter over other kinds of social networks, would you say?

Curious.

Thanks!
DK